The NSW Treasurer and Minister for Planning have recently announced the first tranche of planning reforms.

While they are welcome and will result in many projects being fast-tracked through bottle necks in the NSW planning system, is it enough to drive private sector investment through the COVID-19 crisis and out the other side?

The Urban Taskforce has been highlighting the stagnant state of the NSW planning system for over six months.  Evidence was cited including the drop-off in DA approvals (all types) and a slow-down in the processing of those approvals in the system.

There were numerous causes of this slowdown.  Firstly, following the embarrassing backdown on Council amalgamations, the NSW Government issued a mandate the Department of Planning and the Greater Sydney Commission to do everything they could to not fight with local Councils.

There were two reasons for this.  Among them, firstly, Councils had flexed their muscles by activating local communities against the poorly conceived and even more poorly executed amalgamation process under former Premier Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian was not going to allow that to happen to her, particularly in the lead up to the March 2019 NSW election.  Secondly, Minister Stokes has a genuine commitment to community consultation and participation in planning decision making.  This combined with the GSC’s drive for a comprehensive suite of strategic planning documents (District Plans, Regional Plans, Local Strategic Plans and new Local Environment Plans) to give Councils a mandate to slow their assessment processes down and wait for these strategic documents to be completed.  They did.

Late last year the Urban Taskforce was highlighting a looming problem.  As sure as night follows day, a drop off in development approvals will result in a drop off in construction, we said.  Sure enough: the ABS reported this month that new housing development approvals (all types of housing) has fallen to their lowest level since 2012.  There will be a drop-off in construction – and this will directly coincide with the desperate need for jobs and economic growth. Already Architects Australia are predicting a collapse in the building and construction industry.

The slowdown in DA approvals was, in its root-cause, politically inspired.  The moratorium on DAs in the seat of Ryde just prior to the election is an example and the “independent” GSC was central to facilitating that outcome.  The same thing happened, by default, in Willoughby, North Sydney, Lane Cove and on the Northern Beaches.  The signal flowed to all Councils – slow down on anything which might cause any political backlash.  NIMBYs were given a veto of jobs and growth.  This continued through the course of 2019 while the GSC oversaw the development of strategic planning framework.  Unfortunately, those documents are now redundant and, the slowdown associated with their development has significantly added to the economic downturn we are about to experience.

It is no-wonder that the NSW Treasury has been the agency driving planning reform in NSW.  It was Treasury’s review of the NSW planning system that revealed its deleterious impact on the NSW economy, showing the NSW system to be the slowest in dealing with DAs in all categories, across the nation.  Then it was Treasury that called the Urban Taskforce and asked for a list of projects that were stuck in the planning system and could generate employment and investment if they were freed up.

Urban Taskforce responded with a comprehensive list of over seventy projects which were all held up in the NSW planning system with construction value worth tens of billions of dollars.  These range from immediately shovel-ready projects simply waiting on hoarding approvals from RMS or Parramatta Light Rail, to projects which have been frustrated by the Government’s on-again, off-again approach to significant transport corridor development (Crows-Nest to South St Leonards, Sydenham to Bankstown, Parramatta Road) and the tools-down approach to applications for the re-zoning of land everywhere from Wilton to Pittwater; from Sutherland to the Hunter Valley.

To their credit, DPIE and the Minister are now working on these projects and are now focussed on implementing planning reform. Indeed, the Planning Minister (and DPIE) have jumped on board.  Since January this year, they have been developing up a package of planning reforms to speed up the system.  The first were announced just recently, starting with a focus on shovel-ready projects and the creation of jobs and investment.

The Minister has also committed:

  • Fast-track assessments of State Significant Developments, rezonings and development applications (DAs), with more decisions to be made by the Minister if required;
  • Support councils and planning panels to fast-track local and regionally significant DAs;
  • Introduce a ‘one stop shop’ for industry to progress projects that may be ‘stuck in the system’;
  • Clear the current backlog of cases stuck in the Land & Environment Court with additional Acting Commissioners.

This is welcome, but one can’t help but wonder: is this what was needed to overcome the slowdown that was created by the hiatus in planning approvals evident late last year, well before the current economic scenario was even contemplated? Is it enough now? The answer is no.

Now COVID-19 has hit us, a quantum leap in planning reform thinking is required.  A new focus must go immediately to ensuring that all parts of the planning assessment and decision-making process can take place (or are deemed unnecessary).  This must be done through a COVID-19 Order or through the gazettal of a Special SEPP.  All local, regional and independent panels, all Councils, and decision makers must continue doing their jobs, and if anything, do them faster.

The economic imperative must be the overwhelming objective.  When the “public interest” imperative was developed as part of the EP&A Act, this was referring to the broader benefit to the community derived from investment, employment and housing for the growing population of Sydney and NSW.  It seems in recent years to have shifted to the asserted need for there to be no over-shadowing, or unnecessary prescriptions on apartment designs which limit architectural merit, or the need for developer funded infrastructure including green spaces, road upgrades, bicycle paths and community facilities. This must change. No construction means no community benefits.

All these things are important, but none will happen if investment ceases.  The first priority is to stimulate private sector investment.  Let’s face it – the government won’t have loads of money to spend once this is over.  Maintain quality of design while removing regulation; be outcomes focussed rather than “tick-a-box” obsessed.  Look for reasons to encourage investment rather than reasons to stop it. This is the change in attitude which needs to be driven from the top or we won’t be sleep-walking into a recession anymore, we’ll be collapsing into it!